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This book will not give you the technical expertise to design a yacht but it is a wonderful, rollicking adventure story of Ron Holland growing up and getting to the top of his profession in often hilarious steps. In any successful life chance plays a part but more important is the ability to capitalize on good luck and the ability to somehow derive benefit from bad luck as well.

Ron Holland’s story is inspiring, fascinating and amusing. It is a good easy read and beautifully presented book.

In a long and successful career, Ron Holland has seen many of his creations launched, from America’s Cup yachts to Whitbread yachts to superyachts. Now he has launched a book, All The Oceans: Designing by the seat of my pants, recounting his life as a leading yacht designer.

“I did not pursue what is now considered the traditional way to become a yacht designer,” he says. “Always fascinated by voyages of exploration under sail, a natural talent for drawing and a three-year apprenticeship in a wood boat fabrication shop laid the foundation for me to strike out on my own. Without hesitation, I grasped every opportunity that came my way.

Friends, clients, crew-mates and colleagues came to a function at the Quaterdeck in the RNZYS to celebrate the launching of his book – now on sale at the RNZYS Retail Store – were tales were exchanged and the usual toast raised.

Very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library Contemporary Biography collections, All The Oceans: Designing by the Seat of My Pants is an inherently interesting and impressively informative memoir of an man living in interesting times, and involved in pursing intrinsically challenging projects with and for other interesting people.
– Michael Dunford
Reviewer